Man Sues Delray After Violent Arrest

A man once accused of attacking a police officer has filed suit against the city of Delray Beach, alleging a group of officers attacked him and then conspired to cover up the beating.

Police arrested Lavern Jenkins, 24, after he left when an officer grabbed him off his bicycle on Aug. 1 to question him about a stolen car, states the lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Jenkins felt threatened by the officer and another approaching officer and ran to his mother's house, the lawsuit states. At least two officers followed him to the house, where they beat him to the ground, pepper-sprayed him and called him a racist slur, the suit states.

Jenkins says that once he arrived at the police station, officers pepper-sprayed him again.

In March, a judge tossed out criminal charges of resisting arrest and battery on a police officer against Jenkins, the lawsuit states.

One of the officers involved in Jenkins' arrest, Chad Shepherd, was suspended without pay for five days after an Internal Affairs investigation concluded he misrepresented his role in the incident.

Shepherd wrote in an arrest affidavit that he saw Jenkins fighting with other officers when he did not see the struggle, an Internal Affairs report released in March states.

The Police Department investigated a complaint by Jenkins' mother that police beat her son and used offensive language, but the allegations could not be proved or disproved, police records show.

Police Chief Richard Overman said in March that Shepherd should have stated in his report that other officers had told him about the struggle. "If I felt there was any evil, malice or intent to change the facts of the case, which would have changed the outcome, I would have terminated him," Overman has said.

The suit asks for an unspecified amount of money.

Jon Burstein can be reached at jburstein@sun-sentinel.com or 561-832-2895.